A Spurs man through and
through, Chris Hughton was one of the classiest players
to play left-back for Tottenham and then went on to give
great service to the club as a coach for the best part
of 35 years.

Born in Forest Gate, East
London, Chris came from a footballing family with his
brother Henry also making the grade at Leyton Orient.
Attended the local St. Bonaventure's Secondary School, which also
produced John Chiedozie and Jermain Defoe. Chris
was chosen to play in the Newham Boys side.

Joining Spurs as a junior, Hughton kept on with his
apprenticeship as a lift engineer while making his way
through the ranks at the club. A regular in the
Youth side, Chris signed as a part-time professional at
the end of May 1977
(while he continued his studies), training on Tuesday
and Thursday nights and he forced his way into
the side at a young age and showing pace to get forward
and in recovery, he established his name on the
team-sheet on a regular basis for many a year. Originally a winger,
Hughton was converted to a defender where his pace came
in useful. Chris
was able to fill in on either side of the defence, with
an ability to use either foot, there was evidence of his
former position of a winger when he got forward, as he
was capable of delivering the ball for strikers to get
on the end of and could also finish with great aplomb,
giving him a
good scoring record for a full back. A good reader of the game and a
tenacious tackler, Chris kept his attacking instincts
and loved to overlap, linking up well with fellow
Republic of Ireland international Tony Galvin on the
left flank. His younger years saw him all arms and
legs as he sprinted up the line, but his effectiveness
could not be questioned.

Chris made his debut against
Manchester United in 1979 and soon established himself
as a regular in the side, with his polished displays.
Went on to be a major player in the successful team of
the early 1980s winning the FA Cup twice and the UEFA
Cup. In the FA Cup Final of
1981 at Wembley, which Chris regards as one of his
memorable matches, he got two front teeth kicked out by
team-mate Graham Roberts in the replay as he ducked to
head a ball that Roberts went to kick clear.

A
great student of politics off the field, Chris was a
learner through all of his career at Tottenham on it,
with an appreciation of the finer parts of how the game
should be played, as you might expect with team-mates
such as Steve Perryman, Ossie Ardiles, Glenn Hoddle and
Garth Crooks. His learning was to be put to good use in
the years to come.

With
further success in the FA Cup of 1982 and the UEFA Cup
in 1984, there were times when things didn't turn out as
planned, like the 1982 League Cup Final and the 1987 FA
Cup Final. But the consistency of Hughton's play marked
him out a a player of quality and he was not only
successful on the domestic scene, but also became a
regular in the Republic of Ireland side of the 1980s.
The performances
impressed watching Republic of Ireland manager Eoin
Hand, who gave Chris his international debut to make him
the first black player to represent the country.
Hughton went on to make 53 appearances for his national
side (qualified to play for the Republic through his
mother) and he score done goal, against the USA in a
friendly.

Having given great
service to Tottenham with great performances throughout
the 1980s, Hughton left Spurs and moved closer
to his birthplace with a transfer to
West Ham United in November 1990 where he played for two
years making 32 appearances (plus one as a substitute). His stay
at Upton Park was short and he moved on again, this time
across London to Brentford, where he played for a season before
retiring with a knee injury.

That
was in 1993 and making progress in taking his
coaching badges, Chris returned to Tottenham, where he
took over the Reserve team and was responsible for
bringing through the talented young players from the
Youth system. His ability in this field was soon
recognised and he has served as assistant manager to
several Spurs managers and he stepped in as a caretaker
manager for one game (a 0-1 home defeat to Crystal
Palace on 24th November 1997) between appointments.
Was also appointed as Republic of Ireland assistant
manager under Brian Kerr between
2003 and 2005.

Many people claim that
his role is nothing more than a nominal one, but he is a
highly regarded coach and has developed a great
understanding with Martin Jol since he took over as Head
Coach, with the team reaping the benefits with two
successive fifth place finishes (2005-06 and 2006-07)
and good cup runs in the latter of those two season too,
as the club strives to break into the top four in the
country.

Finally
removed from his post when Jol was sacked, but soon was back in work as assistant manager at
Newcastle United and stood in as caretaker

Serving at Spurs under ten different managers and taking
the role on a caretaker basis between some of their
tenures, but was never given the chance to take the
reins full-time and when Martin Jol was unceremoniously
dismissed in
November 2007,
Hughton's time at Tottenham came to a sad end.

However, this gave Hughton the opportunity to gain a
place at another club for himself and Newcastle United
was his destination, where he was first appointed as a
coach, but then became assistant manager and when the
team were struggling near the bottom of the Premier
League in 2008-09, the caretaker's job
before Joe Kinnear took over as interim manager. When Kinnear
needed heart surgery, Hughton was once more in charge,
but this time
Alan Shearer was given the job until the end of the
season, so Chris returned to his assistant's post.
However, with Newcastle being relegated and Shearer not
willing to take the post full-time, Hughton was given
the job temporarily and then permanently,
with Colin Calderwood, who had joined him from
Nottingham Forest as a coach. In his first full
season in charge, he guided Newcastle back to the
Premier League as Championship champions, but was sacked
by the club halfway through their first season back in
the top flight.

Found a new post at Birmingham City, as manager of the
recently relegated Midlands club and teamed up with
Colin Calderwood again, when the latter was sacked by
Hibernian and moved to St. Andrews as Hughton's
assistant. They did well on very tight budgets to
take the team to the play-offs, but fell at the
semi-final stage and the Bluenoses did not stand in
Chris' way when Norwich City made an approach and he was
installed as the new manager on 7th June 2012.

Chris' brother Henry played
for Leyton Orient and his son Cian was with Spurs and
then Lincoln City.

"I played alongside some
great players in my time here, such as Steve Perryman, Steve
Archibald, Glenn Hoddle and Ossie (Ardiles). I don't
think you can be anything but influenced and I hope to pass
that onto the player snow in my charge.
Also I served under several managers here and learnt from
them all: Keith Burkinshaw, Peter Shreeves and David Pleat
especially. Even though I didn't play under him too
often I very much admired the style of football he tried to
play.

I'm firmly a believer in playing
the "Tottenham Way" and I don't feel that there can be
another way."

... on being called back to be
the Under 21 team manager at the club ... 21.08.1993 (THFC
programme)

"I have kept in touch with
Ossie (Ardiles) since we were team-mates and I was also very
close to the club as I still came here to watch games and
many of the old faces are still here. Therefore I was
delighted when Ossie rang to offer me the job and I'm
certainly enjoying the challenge."